Time to Take Action: Tell Lawmakers to Support the Veto of SB1229

on
Tuesday, September 01, 2015

The Chicago Tribune published an excellent editorial this week which clearly outlined why lawmakers should stand with Governor Rauner on Wednesday and vote against the Democrat attempt to override his veto of SB1229. Read on:

On Wednesday, Illinois House members are
scheduled to reconvene in Springfield. A showdown between Gov. Bruce Rauner and
House Speaker Michael Madigan could unfold over a bill that would imperil the
finances of this already debt-ravaged state. Adding to the intrigue? Campaign
season officially kicks off this week, too, as lawmakers begin collecting
petitions to get on the ballot for 2016.

A dangerous bill that would limit Rauner's
authority to negotiate labor contracts — he's currently in talks with the
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — could get called
for an override vote in the House.

This bill has one
purpose: to block a governor who's trying to discipline an undisciplined
state government. Rauner vetoed the bill because it would let AFSCME declare an
impasse during contract talks and head to binding arbitration. Arbitrators —
unelected middlemen unaccountable to taxpayers — would choose between AFSCME's
demands and Rauner's retort. The Senate has voted to override Rauner's veto. If
the House does the same, the bill is law.

Current Illinois labor law requires the two
sides to strike a deal. To compromise. Former Gov. Pat Quinn spent more than a
year negotiating with AFSCME and at one point grew so frustrated, he canceled
AFSCME's existing contract, which he had extended several times during talks.
Still, AFSCME didn't try to strip Quinn of his authority to sit at the table.

AFSCME is pushing hard for the override. The
union believes an arbitrator would be more generous than Rauner is, potentially
granting all of AFSCME's costly demands. So far those demands include salary
increases of 11.5 percent — and up to 29 percent for certain positions when
seniority is factored in — over four years, Rauner says.

Rauner has proposed a wage freeze, noting that
state workers have received raises during the last decade that far outpaced
those in the private sector. Seeing as the state already faces a $4 billion
budget hole, Rauner says Illinois can't afford union demands that would add
another $1.6 billion in spending.

The two sides have been talking since the
contract expired June 30. Both agreed to extend its terms until Sept. 30.

That's the policy explanation of what's at
stake. Now, the politics:

Madigan and Rauner are
fighting a war for the future of Illinois. Rauner ran TV ads over the summer
blaming Madigan for Springfield's financial implosion. Madigan has blocked
nearly all of Rauner's legislative agenda.

So overriding Rauner's veto would thrill
Madigan. Forget the risk to taxpayers and the unprecedented, possibly unconstitutional,
intrusion into executive authority. Madigan wants to win.

To override, Madigan needs all 70 other
Democrats to stand with him. That includes fiscally conservative,
independent-minded Dems who normally would oppose so unfairly pitting the
interests of labor leaders against those of taxpayers.

Consider Rep. Carol Sente of Vernon Hills,
who's been pro-business and budget-conscious. She sponsored a 2011 bill that
became law and assures that contracts governors and other statewide officials
cut with unions only extend through their terms and don't hamstring their
successors. AFSCME leaders fought her, but she stood up to them: "When a
governor comes in, it's a new term. We want the opportunity for him or her not
to have their hands tied," she said at the time.

A House override this week clearly would tie
Rauner's hands.

Sente voted for the bill in May, but everyone
knew Rauner would veto it. It was a safer vote then than it is now. Will she
vote to override? We'll see. She and other swing Democrats are tight-lipped.

Adding to the intrigue: Sente faced a tough
re-election campaign last fall against Republican Leslie Munger, whom Rauner
later appointed state comptroller. The Democratic Party of Illinois, chaired by
Madigan, spent more than $300,000 defending Sente's seat.

Two other Democrats, Jack
Franks of Marengo and Andre Thapedi of Chicago, didn't vote on the bill in May.
Like Sente, Franks has been an independent voice, as has former prosecutor
Scott Drury of Highwood. Franks and Drury helped kill Madigan's proposal last
year to tax millionaires. That is, both have bucked Madigan before.

This law would sunset in four years. It's
aimed solely at Rauner, whom voters elected on the precise promise that he
would take a tougher stance against unions during contract talks. If every
Democrat caves to Madigan, those voters, aka taxpayers, will pay for every
extra dollar the arbitrators award.

Republicans are expected to be unified against
this bad bill. It only takes one Democrat — just one — to kill it. Will those
independent, fiscally conservative Dems now bow to Madigan? Or will they
acknowledge that this is an unprecedented swipe at a governor's ability to
negotiate to the end on behalf of taxpayers?